Cigarette cutting machine



March 1949- c. E. WEISNER ETAL 2,464,108

CIGARETTE CUTTING MACHINE Inventor (Zara e515 "@220:

Gary 7% Zfzzyal WWW 25m March 8, 1949. c, WEZISNERv ET AL 2,464,108

CIGARETTE CUTTING MACHINE Filed April 26, 1945 h 2 Sheets-$heet 2 (Zarfsfi evlm Gary [125d Inventor Patented Mar. 8, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT@EFEQE CIGARETTE CUTTING MACHINE Application April 26, 1945, .Serial No.590,352

1 Claim. l.

This invention relates to improvements in cigarette cutting machines andhas for its object the rapid and clean cutting of the long lengths oftobacco filled rods produced by a cigarette machine.

Another obiect is to cut the cigarette rod into proper lengths withoutarresting its progress from the machine upon which it is being produced.

The above and other objects may be accomplished by employing thisinvention which embodies among its features a head supporting at one enda fixed gear with a shaft rotatably mounted in the head and carryingadjacent the end of the head carrying the fixed gear a rotating disk inwhich a cutter shaft is mounted to rotate and travel in an orbitconcentric with the axis of the drive shaft disk, a cutter head fixed toone end of the cutter shaft and a pinion at the opposite end of thecutter shaft for meshing engagement with the fixed gear of the head, ascrew extending perpendicular to the axis of the cutter head andcarrying a star wheel by which it may be rotated, one end of the screwentering a blade carrier and a blade mounted in the carrier and adaptedto be moved radially of the cutter head by means of the screw.

Other features include means for rotating the star wheel and advancingthe blade into cutting position while the machine is in operation.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an end view of a cigarette cutting machineembodying this invention.

Figure 2 is a front view of the machine.

Figure 3 is an end view showing the machine from the end opposite thatshown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4'--4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the blade holder.

Figure 6 is an edge View of Figure 5.

Figure '7 is a plan view of a cutting blade, and

Figure 8 is an edge view of Figure 7.

Referring to the drawings in detail a machine head designated generallyif! comprising a standard I l carrying at its upper end a cylindricalbody I2 is provided with a longitudinally bore in which the shaft 13 ismounted for rotation. This shaft carries at one end a suitable drivegear or sprocket (not shown) and at its opposite end a disk l4 carryingsuitable bearings it in which a cutter shaft is mounted for rotation. Itis to be noted that the cutter shaft I8 is mounted eccentric to thelongitudinal axis of the shaft is and disk M so that as the disk isrotated the shaft it will travel in an orbit concentric with the axis ofthe shaft [3 and disk M. Secured to the end of the shaft [6 and meshingwith the fixed gear on the head Hi is a pinion ll which is arranged torotate the shaft it about its own axis as it revolves through thecircular orbit concentric with the drive shaft 53. Secured to the end ofthe shaft 15 opposite the pinion I! is a cutter head it which takes theform of a disk and attached to the outer face of the head I 8 is asocket E9 in which a screw is rotatably mounted. As shown in Figure 1,the screw Zll carries a star wheel 2! by means of which it may berotated in its socket and attached to the outer face of the head 18 areguides 22 in which blade carriers 23 are slidably mounted. The bladecarriers 23 are best illustrated in Figures 5 and 6 and each comprises abifurcated body member 24 pierced by openings 25 to receive attachingscrews by means of which the blade 26 illustrated in Figures 7 and 8 issecured in the holder. Formed in the end of the blade holder body 24opposite the bifurcated end is an internally screw-threaded socket 2'!for the reception of the threaded end of the screw 2%! previouslymentioned.

Pivotally mounted in a bracket 28 which is fixed to the table A to whichthe head It! is secured is a lever 29 carrying a control finger 30 bymeans of which it may be moved toward or away from the cutter head !8 asillustrated in Figure l. The upper end of the lever is provided with adog 3! which when the control finger is lifted moves into the path ofmovement of the star wheel 2| so that as the star wheel moves in itscircular orbit concentric with the axis of the shaft !3 and disk IA itwill be rotated in a direction to cause the screw 20 to advance thecutter blades and hence facilitate adjustment of the blades during therunning of the cutter.

The operation is as follows. Upon rotating the shaft l3 the disk M willbe rotated so as to cause the shaft It to travel in a concentric orbitabout the axis of the shaft l3 and disk 64. Due to the meshing of thegear I! with the fixed gear on the head I ii the shaft l6 will berotated about its own axis thus driving the head l8 so as to bring theknives 25 periodically into cutting position. The cigarette rod B is fedthrough the usual ledger C which, as shown in Figure 2 is slotted toreceive a knife during the cutting operation. Due to the speed ofrotation of the head !8 it will be seen that each knife is butmomentarily in contact with the cigarette rod E and hence no retardationof the advance of the rod through the ledger will be experienced.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredembodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changesin the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

What we claim is:

In a cigarette cutter, a rotary cutterhead, a pair of blade holdersmounted on one face of said cutterhead in diametrically spaced relationfor movement radially of said head, said blade holders having alignedoppositely screw-threaded openings entering their opposed ends, a stemmounted on the cutterhead to rotate about an axis which aligns with theaxis of the aligned openings in the blade holders, threads on the stemadjacent opposite ends thereof threadedly engaging the threads in theopenings, means fixed to the stem between the blade holders to rotatethe stem and advance or retract the blade holders relative to the headand blades removably mounted in the ends of the blade holders remotefrom the screw-threaded openings, the cutting edges of the blades beingdisposed at the ends thereof remote from the blade holders andprojecting beyond the periphery of the cutterhead.

CHARLES E. WEISNER. GARY W. LLOYD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

